Sunshine
by Snowthistle
Summary: Nepeta finds a dying Karkat who sings a song for her. Doomed timeline.


Well she certainly never expected in her whole life that this would ever happen. In fact she didn't think that he would ever allow it considering how grumpy he was, but maybe he was doing this just for her. Here he was clad in his god tier clothes of different shades of brown bleeding out a bright candy red onto the ground. He looked exhausted, but for some reason a tired smile rested on his face. Perhaps he was delusional as he was dying? Maybe he thought that she was Terezi or something? She and the tealblood did look somewhat similar but not by much. Her horns resembled cat ears, and Terezi's were sharp, narrow cones.

It never occurred to her that one day Karkat Vantas would be dying in her lap with his head pressed against her stomach, and the fact that he was smiling was another improbable thing. Surely he must've smiled while watching one of his favorite rom-coms and maybe when his lusus was still alive, but she had never seen him smile once during the game. Maybe it was only in secret and only Terezi knew about it despite her blindness. Would she have been jealous if that had happened? No, definitely not because Karkat's happiness was more important than any romantic feelings that she held for him. She didn't know how close Terezi considered her a friend regardless of how many roleplays and even casual chats they'd had together. Even so, she wouldn't risk losing Terezi as a friend over a silly boy.

Nepeta had taken off her mask and laid it beside her to let her tears fall freely and uninterrupted by the magenta cloth. She gently raised a partially gloved hand to his cheek and stroked away some tears he'd shed from the pain. She noticed him swallow, and he appeared as if he were about to say something. An explosion of light appeared in the distance followed by some smaller explosions each a different color. There would be time to help the others later, but she wasn't about to abandon Karkat now. When she first found him, she knew there wasn't enough time to go looking for Feferi, so she opted to stay with him and give him comfort as he lay dying. At last, the sound of his weak voice brought her attention back to him.

"You are my...sunshine...my...only...sunshine..."he croaked out.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"You make me...happy...when skies are...gray..."

It was a song that Jaspersprite had taught her because Rose would sing it to him sometimes. Sometimes she would sing it to herself while wandering around or drawing or roleplaying, and she'd had to explain herself a few times. It was definitely confusing to hear about sunshine being a good thing when the Alternian sun was scorching hot and even blinded Terezi. Karkat had heard her on one of those occasions and told her it was a ridiculous song after she'd explained it, but she had a feeling that he didn't mean it. There were a lot of mean things that Karkat said but didn't mean. It was just a form of self-protection she supposed since he was a mutant after all. Nepeta personally could care less what his blood color was, but she knew there were dire consequences if he were to be found out. Maybe one day he wouldn't have to live in fear of being culled, but that was the least of his worries in SGRUB.

He inhaled shakily,"...you'll ne...ver know dear...how much I...love you.."

More tears rolled down her cheeks as he continued to sing, and he shakily raised a hand to her cheek.

"Please don't take...my...sunshine a...way..."

Her eyes blurred as more tears continued to fall, and she knew he meant every word he sang. It was just a simple little song, yet she knew there was an underlying emphasis added when he sang it to her. The smile on his face definitely confirmed it, and she knew he wasn't delusional right now. It made her very confused, but her Heart powers were telling her that he wasn't just singing it to make her happy. Karkat's hand fell gingerly to his chest, and Nepeta bent down to kiss his forehead before he was gone. His breathing stilled as he lay in her lap, and his gray eyes closed. She wanted him to wake up and sing to her again, but he was gone and remained still. All she could do now before heading back to fight was bid him a final farewell and lay his head gently on the ground.

A strange atmosphere settled over her as her translucent olive wings carried her to the exploding, colorful lights, and she did not notice the silver robot in the likeness of a certain lowblooded friend watching from afar.

* * *

I decided to do a take on the Katnep fics using "You Are My Sunshine" and decided to have Karkat sing it instead.


End file.
